Truth
by Gabrhil
Summary: Zim finally does what he should have done when he landed on Earth. Build an invulnerable mecha and go on a rampage. Meanwhile, Dib finds out what he is and his true purpose. No ZADR, first fanfic.
1. Prolouge: Nightmare or Premoniton?

Disclaimer: If I owned Invader Zim, would I be posting this story on a non-profit site just for fun, or publishing it and make money off of it?

AN: This is somewhat based on a dream I once had about Zim finally going on an all-out attack and almost succeeding. But Dib's part of the story was just something I came up with. This is my first fanfic, so please let me know if there's anything I can improve on, spelling, grammar, etc.

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DIb's POV

I had a dream last night, or rather, a nightmare. I saw cities burning, corpses, some burnt in the flames, others with bullet holes on almost every inch of them. I saw the silhouette of...something. I couldn't tell what it was, but it couldn't have been human. All I could tell was it had really big guns on it's arms, and two cannons on it's back. This thing...it kept destroying everything in it's path. Everything that moved, it shot at. Every building in it's way, it demolished, every man, woman, or child, it shot at. I saw what appeared to be a damaged mech. On the ground was, my dad. He looked injured. The, whatever it was, grabbed Dad's head and put the gun on it's other arm to his head. Then a wounded Irken, Zim, struggling to stand up, aimed an alien laser gun to the unknown being's head. Before he could pull the trigger, the thing aimed for Zim, shot and killed him, then blew dad's brains out, all in the blink of an eye. It threw Dad's body aside and slowly turned around. The flames cast a dim light on it. It had a human shape, it's head was big, and from it's face I could tell it was a robot, no more like a cyborg. It's eyes were similar to that of an Irken SIR unit, like goggles with glowing red lenses. Where it's mouth would be, was an egg shaped lump with a hazard symbol on it. It's face in general, behind the eyes, surrounding the "mouth" looked like an iron mask of a human face. On top of it's head looked like hair with a familiar backwards scyth style. The face suddenly began to break apart. It split into small pieces that hid behind it's head. As the exterior face split, it revealed a human face. It looked exactly like me. .

I woke up screaming. Did the dream mean anything? If so, why did that thing have my face? I didn't have a lot of time to think about that, because my sister, Gaz busted in. This wasn't going to end well.

"You woke me up. You remember what I said I'd do to you last time you woke me up like this? I said I'd tie your arms and legs in a knot, then I'd bend you until I could shove your big head up your own ass!"

"Now, Gaz, we can talk about this- OhmyGod!!"


	2. Chapter 1: Forgotten Law

* * *

Disclaimer: See prologue

Time: 4:28 P.M. GST (Galactic Standard Time)

Location: Somewhere outside the Solar System

The Massive; the ship of the Irken leaders, the Almighty Tallests. Usually, the Tallests would be lazying about, eating snacks, or anything that would amuse them. But today, they were annoyed by the fact that they were required to perform one of few tasks done by all previous Tallests. They were to clean out the Archives of Irken History by deleting records and laws they felt had no significance in the present era to make room for more laws and records.

One of the operators of the Massive showed the Tallests a texting of each record and law of the archives on a big screen as they lay on the couch, bored and thinking of excuses to avoid doing this.

"The slaughter of the Great Green Arkleseizure.", said the operator.

"Delete." the purple Tallest replied.

"But, sir. This event is what lead to the conquest of Vitvodle VI"

"Hey, who's the tallest one here? I said delete the record, so, delete it."

"We are the same height, you know.", said the red Tallest. "But, yeah, go ahead and delete the...taking over, and stuff of that planet too, it's just a parking lot now anyways."

"The invasion." corrected the purple one.

The operator obeyed his Tallests and deleted both records from the archives. He brought the

next record on screen. "The Assassination of Invader Stine."

"Who?", said the red one. "Go ahead and delete it." said the other.

"The Invader's Time Limit Law", the operator announced.

"Dele-"

"Wait!", cried the red Tallest. "Time limit? Scroll down, let me read it."

The operator did as he was told. The texting on the screen read:

"_During a mass planetary invasion, if at least three Invaders have not accomplished their objectives, then the current Tallest may set a time limit on the remainder of their mission. If the objective is not cleared within that time limit, than the Invader will be given a choice to be eternally banished to his/her assigned planet, or return to Irk to have his/her PAK removed and recycled. The Tallest may then send a more competent Invader to clear the objective. _"

The red one stared at the screen amazed. As he gazed, he began to scheme. He said, "This law has been in effect since before we were the Tallests!" His excitement built up, "D-do you know what this means!?"

"You know, I really could care less." the purple one said bluntly.

"It means," explained the red one, "that if we enforce this, then we could take care of Zim, once and for all!"

The purple Tallest began to take interest in his partner's babbling. "Go on."

"How many Invader's are there left?" asked the red one.

The purple one thought for a moment. "Well, Invader Tenn just finished taking over Mekrob. Uh...last time Invader Spleen reported in, he said that he was close. I think it's just him and Zim."

"That means we can put this law in effect. We can finally get rid of Zim!" exclaimed the red one.

"Contact Invader Spleen." ordered the red Tallest. The two Tallest were confident that they had found a solution to their problem.


	3. Chapter 2: Karen

* * *

Disclaimer: See prologue

September 13, 2109

8:02 P.M. EST (Eastern Standard Time)

Zim's House

"But, my Tallests-" pleaded a small pink-eyed Irken.

"Invader Spleen reported back with his planet's weakness before we informed him of his time limit, Zim!" said the red Tallest. He was seen by the Invader through a video feed on a screen within his base. The purple one sat in the background letting the red do all the talking. "You've been on that rock for 3 years, 3 YEARS! More than half the others finished within the first 5 months. Hell, Scooge finished his within the first! And what do you have to show for your 'progress'? A bunch of stupid reports and retarded experiments that just waste our time!"

"Please, my Tallest. Give me more time!" begged Zim.

"You've been there long enough. 2 months. Two months, and we either banish you to Earth, or you come back to have your PAK removed. Your choice."

"NOOOOOOOOO!" cried the Invader.

"Yes!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Yeeeees!"

"NOOOOOOOO!"

"YES! 2 months, Zim!" replied the red one angrily.

"...NO!"cried the Invader again.

Tired of this stupidity, the red Tallest hung up on Zim. As soon as the screen went blank, both Tallest whooped in absolute excitement and began laughing and eating snacks. In two months, they would be rid of him, through banishment or execution. They didn't care either way.

The small Irken stood in front of the screen for hours. He was shocked. How could he finish the mission in only two months?

September 14,

3:02 P.M.

Jr. Hi Skool

It was the last period of the school day. In room 117, a very skinny, very old, almost scary looking woman was teaching her class about a universal doom theory for the thousandth time repeating the word "doomed" until the bell rang. Her students hated this class the most. Partly because their teacher, Ms. Bitters, who was also their teacher in the 4th grade, was promoted to 7th grade and was moved to Jr. Hi in room 117. But the main reason was because this period was the exact same class as 4th grade. Which meant that they were in the same room as a certain individual who was despised and looked down upon by the entire school. He was a somewhat big-headed boy with a backwards scythe hair style wearing a black trench coat over a shirt with a smiley face on it. His name was Dib.

Dib was thought by everyone in Skool, even by his own father, as crazy. Throughout his life, he had studied paranormal activities and claimed seeing things like big foot in his garage, using the belt sander. His most recent and ludicrous theory, as many thought, was the obvious truth that his classmate since 4th grade, Zim, was an alien. And for 3 years, he kept proving, maybe even building, his insanity by trying to uncover his classmate's simple, yet effective rouse.

Today, however, he was unusually quiet. He seemed to take no notice at Zim's absence, which would usually have him ranting to himself in paranoia. Instead, he sat there. He was a bit shaken up. Partly from the beating his sister, Gaz gave him last night. But he was mostly thinking about the dream he had. He wondered; did it mean anything? It was too horrible to imagine, yet to him, seemed almost too real.

The final bell rung, Mrs. Bitters stopped her repeating rant of doom, and the children did whatever they could to get out of the building as soon as possible. Some ran to the front entrance, others through the back exits, and even some opening and crawling out the windows. Dib started straight home. He didn't want to wait for his sister at Skool, he just wanted to get home. Even if it did mean getting beaten up for leaving her behind again. But before he could walk off campus, he was jumped by a young girl.

It wasn't Gaz, and his attacker didn't intend on hurting the boy. The girl was about 12 years old, she had green eyes and long light blond hair. She wore a similar jacket to Dib, and a shirt with an alien face on it. She had her arms wrapped around his neck, not seeming to realize that she had knocked him down. Her name was Karen.

As Dib got up, she let go of him. She gave him her usual bright smile and greeted him cheerfully. "Hey, Dib."

As he shook off the fall, he replied in a monotone. "Hey, Karen."

"Are you feeling alright?"

"Well, you just knocked me over. Again. But, other than that, I'm fine."

"Something's on your mind, I can tell."

He sighed. Karen always seemed to know when something was wrong. Dib knew that she had a small crush on him, in fact, all of Jr. Hi knew she liked him. Nobody knew exactly what she saw in him, but she believed almost everything he told her about his paranormal studies. Occasionally, she helped him try to prove Zim really was an alien, or any other crazy idea he tried to prove, or disprove. However, he wasn't really interested in her. She was a good friend to him, however he felt that he wasn't ready to be in that kind of relationship. Plus, she was in 6th grade, and he felt awkward about dating an underclassman.

"I had a dream last night. Well, more like a nightmare..." He explained. "E-everything felt way too real. I don't want to believe that it meant anything, but...It just keeps repeating in my head. Over and over. I don't wanna talk about it."

For awhile, she stood there, seemingly calm, trying to put together everything he told her. Finally, she said, "Maybe it was a premonition."

"A what?" he asked.

"You know, a vision of the future. Something paranormal might have happened to you! I'm so jealous now!" she replied cheerfully.

"Heh, yeah. Maybe." Dib said to her. "But I damn sure hope not." he muttered under his breath.


	4. Chapter 3: Idea

September, 21 2109

9:32 P.M.

Zim's house

Zim stood in font of the screen for a week now. He was in utter shock. How could his Tallests forsake him like this? How could he conquer this wretched planet in only 2 months?

The computer, the A.I. that maintained the functions of the house, finally spoke. "Master, a week is long enough to sulk in front of the telescreen. We have two months to conquer this planet, and we've already wasted eight days."

The alien sighed. "What's the point. Every plan I've had, as genius as they were, has failed me. What hope do I have of conquering this filthy rock in only two months?"

"A month and 22 days, actually." replied the computer. "I've collected and recorded data of all of your past failures. If you could rewrite my programming, I may be able to come up with a way to accomplish the mission within the allowed time."

The Irken's eyes suddenly lit up. "You can do that?" he asked.

"All you need to do is rewrite my thought scripts to allow enough independent thought to conduct plans. I will be able to identify your mistakes, how the humans reacted, and the aftermaths of your previous operations and develop a plan of my own."

The alien thought over what his computer said. "I don't know." he replied, "last time I reprogrammed an A.I. to think for itself, it tried to... make me not live...anymore."

"You won't have to worry about that, master. Your S.I.R unit's A.I. came to believe you were stupid. The incident will not repeat with me."

"Why is that?" asked Zim.

"Because I already know that you're stupid."

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AN: 4 months and all I have is this short half assed chapter. I am so sorry, everyone. But my reasons behind it are school being a bitch, my guitar finally getting fixed, getting my hands on Armored Core For Answer and the fact that I just love to procastinate. I swear I will make up for this in the next chapter and I'll update a little quicker. No guarantees.


	5. Chapter 4: Foreshadowing

I had that dream again. But it was a little different than last night. That...that robot thing...the one that was destroying everything....I was sure that it was me. I don't want to believe it, but something inside me confirms it.

So there I was. Destroying everything in my way. Slaughtering anything that moved, men, women, children, cats, dogs, squirrels. There was no purpose to it. I just laid waste to it all. The military tried stopping me. Soldiers fired their guns at me. Tanks fired their cannons. But their efforts were futile. The soldier's bullets bounced off of me as I came to them and tore their arms off. I jumped out of harms way as the high caliber rounds came to me. I tore the tanks apart with my bear hand. A soldier backed into the corner of an ally-way trembled as I approached him. He screamed as I tore his jaw off shoved it into his eye sockets. The rounds fired from the cannons on my back crashed into the few standing buildings while I shot at the panic-stricken people with the guns on my arms.

I walked towards one of the newly toppled buildings. There was something in the rubble. Something alive. Whatever it was, it managed to crawl out on it's own. It was a girl. The fire cast very little light on her face, but I could see an innocent look in her eyes. She feebly reached her arms out towards me, as if to embrace. I took aim with my right arm. As I woke up and the dream faded, there was a gunshot. I kept myself from screaming to avoid another beating from my sister. I was panting and sweat poured down from my forehead. As I recalled the events of that nightmare, the very last part of it was burnt into my mind. I couldn't see the girl's face, but I had a really bad feeling I knew who it was.

I just hope I'm wrong.

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AN: Another short chapter. But it should make up for the last one.


	6. Chapter 5: Black Gears Turning

September 25, 2109

3:32 P.M.

Between Vazquez St. and Squee Ct.

As the week went on, Dib kept having these nightmares. He became quieter and kept more to himself. When somebody mentioned that Zim had not been in class all week, as if to provoke Dib's ludicrous theories or otherwise, he would act as if he didn't care. While most of his classmates found this relieving, a few people began to worry. Karen in particular.

He walked alongside Gaz on their way home. She enjoyed the new found silence of her brother as she played her new _Game Slave III_. She hoped that it would be like this all day.

"Dib!"

Her hopes crashed down as she heard _her_ voice. Karen ran until she caught up with Dib and Gaz. When she did, she turned around to face Dib while continuing to walk. Her very presence made irritated Gaz.

"You've been pretty quiet lately." she said. "Anything you want to talk about?"

As Karen began talking, Gaz started moving at a faster pace in hopes of leaving her brother and his would-be girlfriend behind.

"It's...well...it's nothing." replied Dib.

She frowned. She wanted to help him, but how could she if he wouldn't tell her what was wrong? "You know..." she said, "I have some homework I might need help with. Mind if I come over?"

"Help with what?" he asked.

"Um...Social studies and math."

"Social studies and math...I guess I could help you out a little." he replied. "Plus, my dad kinda likes it when you come over. He has someone else call crazy besides me." They both snickered at his last sentence, unaware of the wicked gears that began turning.

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September 25, 2109

3:56 PM

Zim's House

"Computer! Have you discovered the weakness of the dirty Earth rats and how we can use it to take control of the planet for the Armada?" asked Zim. It took him two days to rewrite the programming of the computer. But if it gave him his Deus ex Machina, then he was willing to take any risk.

"I have, sir." answered the computer. "It's rather interesting. These humans are completely unaware or believe the existence of other life in the universe is purely science fiction. Those who believe that more advanced forms of life exist are deemed to be crazy, such as the Dib human. If the Armada were to come, theoretically speaking, the humans would be crushed in seconds."

Zim nodded his head, listening in fascination. "Go on."

"However, despite their inferior intelligence and weak physical structures, humans posses something very few organisms the Irken Empire has encountered have. "

"And that would be?"

"Morale. As long as they have hope, the humans can resist imperial conquest by an unearthly force."

"So, it would be easier to just destroy all beings on this planet."

"One could say so. However, despite having weak bodies, we can't deny that they are indeed physically stronger than Irkens and that their intellect is very easy to manipulate. The human species could be of some use to the Irken Empire."

"So, the humans cannot stand an all out assault. But if they keep their spirits up, they will resist. If we cannot destroy them all at once....Hm...How can we crush them while keeping their morale to a minimum?" asked Zim.

"The answer is simple." replied the computer. "Crush their spirit. When they have hope, humans are unbelievably strong creatures. But if you suddenly took away all of that hope, they would crumble into a pitiful mess. If you recall the Santa incident, the humans worshiped you like a divine being because they believed you to be this 'Santa Claus'. By dressing as Santa, you gave the humans hope that there was a jolly fat man who delivered gifts. Now say in the face of absolute doom, you gave humans hope that they could prevail, then all of a sudden, you took it all away."

Zim thought for awhile. A plan formed in his head, piece by piece, like a puzzle. As each piece fell into place, he began snickering. By the time his plan was finished, the entire house, from the attic to the underground laboratories echoed his sinister cackling.


End file.
